He is No. 1 in the hearts of many Chicago Bears fans. He has three Super Bowl rings, and he played and coached his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the Bears. He also was the NFL Coach of the Year in 1985.
The accolades go on and on, and now he can add a new distinction: Perhaps the most entertaining speaker in the history of the Little Rock Touchdown Club.
The former All-Pro tight end, All-American at the University of Pittsburgh and the guy known for a mental toughness that equaled his physical toughness had the crowd of more than 600 belly laughing one minute, then hanging on to his wisdom the next.
His talk was a bit salty, very honest, opinionated and definitely from the heart.
In other words, it was Mike Ditka being "Iron Mike."
Casual football fans may not remember the 77-year-old who was NFL Rookie of the Year in 1962 after George Halas, the Bears' head coach and one of the founders of the NFL, reinvented the position of tight end for the multitalented Ditka.
Before Ditka, tight ends were primarily blockers.
Halas saw in Ditka a rare athleticism and raw-boned toughness, so he decided to shake the game up. It didn't hurt that the rookie was 6-3 and aggressive.
Ditka was widely recruited out of high school, but he signed with Pitt. He became a three-sport letterman, adding basketball and baseball to his resume.
During his sophomore year, Ditka was sent into a basketball game after two guys fouled out to cover Jerry West.
"I covered him for five minutes, he got 15 points, I got five fouls and was outta there," he said. "Years later, West told me he remembered that game, and he was glad I fouled out or he wouldn't have had a professional career."
Ditka caught 56 passes and scored 12 touchdowns in his rookie season with the Bears.
After six seasons, Halas thought Ditka had burned out and traded him to the Philadelphia Eagles, where he spent two long, miserable losing seasons with the Eagles and decided to retire rather than live in Philly another day. A few weeks later, he got a call from Dallas Cowboys legendary coach Tom Landry, who wanted him to come to camp. Ditka reinvented himself in the offseason, and he said he was in the best shape of his life.
He played four years for the Cowboys, and in Super Bowl VI he caught a touchdown pass in the victory over Miami. He's the only person to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl and coach in one.
When he retired again, he was immediately hired by Landry, and there he coached the pride of Ouachita Baptist, Cliff Harris -- or Captain Crash as he was called. Harris traveled from Dallas to Little Rock to hear Ditka speak.
"I told Coach Landry I liked Cliff [who was undrafted] because if it moved, he struck it," Ditka said.
The Cowboys won the Super Bowl in 1977. In 1981, Ditka was hired to be the head coach of the Bears.
Ditka didn't really talk about himself much as a player or coach Tuesday, and most of the stories he told about himself were self-effacing.
He shared some philosophies, including his ACE theory for success: A is attitude, and a good one is a must. C is character, and that means "knowing what is right in the eye of God and doing it." E is enthusiasm, and that means get excited about what you are doing.
Ditka, who in 1977 married Little Rock's Diana Trantham, is a devout Catholic and ultra conservative who once considered running for Congress against a man named Barack Obama.
In 2011, he presented then President Obama with a Bears jersey and the name Obama on the back.
Sports on 09/06/2017